For help, advice and discussion about stuff not related to aviation. Play nice: no religion, no politics and no axe grinding please.
#1876393
I am a just retired hospital chaplain and for many years I thought aviation scanning and other scanning would be the perfect retirement hobby. I bought the above equipment and I think I have wiped it clean. I have read all the manuals and I still don't know how to use it. Then when nothing was received I bought indoor antenna as above. Still nothing. I do live in a care home ground floor flat so no outdoor antenna allowed. Is there a kind person in the London area that would spare me an hour and show me the basics of setting my scanner up? I can come to you. Blessings, Kevin
By Aerials
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1876511
Hi Kevin, I think you will only receive aircraft (and ground stations) when they are pretty much line of sight to your antenna. The frequencies used for aviation don't penetrate building material very much at all. If you have distributed radio and tv in your building, I'd try finding a co-axial cable with a BNC connector at one end that fits your radio and plug at the other end to fit the wallplate, to the socket marked 'FM'. It should work after a fashion but very inefficiently. If you don't have such a system, you'll find it hard going to receive anything at all indoors unless you have a view of one of the London airports or the aircraft pass nearby.
There's much more to this subject than I can write here and other contributers will have their views that will help I'm sure.
#1876515
Have a bit of a search online for pages on scanner basics. You need to understand about what frequencies to aim for and what to expect.
You do need the best antenna you can get and placed as high as you can. Position in the room if using an indoor one will make a difference (usually best if near a window).
Keep at it - radio scanning and more general short wave listening is a great hobby and there’s loads to learn and enjoy.
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By tr7v8
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1876518
If you have wiped it clean then that is the issue. You need enter frequencies by looking them up on the web and then typing them in. I bought mine pre loaded with all the UK ones.
There are some PC based tools that mean you can load them and edit them, some are free.
This will be a starter:-

https://ukafg.co.uk/uk-control-areas/

and this may help: https://www.nick-bailey.co.uk/scan125/

There are youtube vids on how to make it work as well.
I think the original aerial will be ok. I live in Chatham and get all the London calls